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While strolling through Wal-Mart the other day with my mom, I looked at my cell phone and realized, it was the fifteenth! Green Day's newest CD came out that day. Excitement bubbled up inside me and I pretty much ran to the electronics to find the CD. I immediately grabbed one and paid for it. After getting back to my house, it was immediately popped into my CD player. I started listening, and was reminded exactly why I am such an avid Green Day fan.
After listening to the entire CD, I decided it was pretty good, it really reminded me of "American Idiot" but it was different in its special ways. The songs are kind of slow, it is kind of hard to explain. The songs are really slow for about the first minute and then all of a sudden change all together. When you listen to all their CDs in order from oldest to newest, they change significantly. The old songs, if you haven't heard them, are faster and in my opinion are better. I think the changes are results of Billie Joe's strong opinions on politics as he got older. The old songs were just about love and life and such, now the songs are about the things wrong with the world. I truly believe he's trying to make a difference in the world. Maybe just getting your view out there will help?
The intro, "Song of the Century" is kind of a chant and it sounds really cool because it sounds like a bit of static in the background and it just contributes to the overall effectiveness of the mood in the cd. Song two, "21st Century Breakdown" starts to get into how the world is failing all around us and it seems like it's never going to get better. "Know Your Enemy" is a little bit random, in ways, I interpret it as that you should know why the world is all messed up. Billie Joe has a strong opinion on politics and it really shows through his music. "Viva La Gloria" contributes more to "Know Your Enemy". The name of song five, "Before the Lobotomy", really says it all. It's about life before everything changed and the huge differences in our world. It also deals with how he doesn't like the change and that maybe it's a little too much to handle. "Last Night on Earth" is about love and giving all you have to the one you love. I am presuming it's about Adrienne. She is his wife of almost 15 years now. He has always said he will never leave her and loves her very much. "Peacemaker" is ironic because the song is pretty much the opposite of the title. It's about starting fights and such. "Murder City" is about feeling desperate for a change. Wanting something to go different then it is. "The Static Age" is about the results of our actions and how they are going to effect the next generation. "21 Guns", my favorite song on this cd, is about giving in and not fighting anymore. It is about just wanting things to go back to how they were and the problems of the world to disappear. "See the Light" is when we finally get out of this mess, and that things will get better. It will take a lot, but eventually, it's going to happen.
I am not sure if these are the actual meaning of the songs but this is how I interpret them. The songs seem like they have a lot of thought and meaning, maybe a little bit of a double meaning and it can be hard to understand. The one thing I can be sure of is that this music is really deep and shows how Billie Joe feels about a lot of things going on with the world.
There are a couple parts of 21st Century Breakdown that I don't like, such as the slow songs and the huge change. I didn't really like the five year wait for new Green Day either. I was wondering what was going on. Overall the new work was a pretty nice masterpiece. I think it was a great CD. Hopefully us fanatics won't have to wait another five years to get new stuff.
Check it out and keep it real.
-Soonag
Editor's Note: Source for picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:21st_Century_Breakdown_Album_Cover.jpg
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